Blind Cyclist Planning to Bike Across Canada

A Nova Scotia man who has been blind since he was a teenager is planning a bike trip across Canada to raise money for charity.

Craig Aucoin of Pictou County was diagnosed at the age of 8 with the degenerative eye disease retinitis pigmentosa.  By the age of 15, he began rapidly losing his sight, and was no longer able to play hockey and soccer or participate in the activities he loved.

Aucoin told the CBC that he battled depression for 7 years and was “pretty much a couch potato.” That all changed when he turned 23.  Aucoin decided to start working out, and eventually he was competing in triathlons.

With his friend Lloyd McLean, he hatched the plan to ride a tandem bike from coast to coast.  The two are training for their cross-country trek by spending about 5 hours at a time on a stationary tandem bike. By the end of this month, they expect to have logged enough virtual miles equal to half the distance across Canada.

On August 4th, the young men plan to set out on their cross-country bike tour for real. They will embark on a 92-day journey from St. John’s, Newfoundland to Victoria, British Columbia, a distance on nearly 4,400 miles.

The money raised will go to three organizations that Aucoin says have changed his life: the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, Canadian Guide Dogs for the Blind, and the YMCA.